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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25294225">Broken into pieces</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxiousboi_char/pseuds/anxiousboi_char'>anxiousboi_char</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Video Blogging RPF, jacksepticeye, youtube - Fandom</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Everyone Needs A Hug, Gen, Grief/Mourning, M/M, Men Crying, Sad, i guess??</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-16</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-09-29</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 11:01:52</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Major Character Death</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>3</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>4,974</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25294225</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/anxiousboi_char/pseuds/anxiousboi_char</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>At first, everyone strictly hated Anti. However, as time went by, the "evil demon" started to grow on them, and soon enough, he became a part of their weird, little family. Of course, some liked him more and some liked him less, but in the end, they did care about him.</p>
<p>That's why when one day everything went wrong and they lost him, it hit them hard.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Antisepticeye &amp; Chase Brody, Antisepticeye &amp; Henrik von Schneeplestein, Antisepticeye &amp; Jackieboy-Man, Antisepticeye &amp; Jameson Jackson, Antisepticeye &amp; Other(s), Antisepticeye/Marvin The Magnificent, Sean McLoughlin &amp; Sean McLoughlin, Sean McLoughlin/Sean McLoughlin</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>37</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. When everything crumbles</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>When the egos first met Anti, things didn't go smooth. They went very wrong, actually, and it all ended with a big fight between them and him. But only as time went on and big battles continued to happen every once in a while, they started to realize that the demon wasn't truly trying to harm them. Just knowing this wasn't enough to fix everything, but when Marvin decided to try and talk with him instead of fighting, their theory was confirmed. Anti wasn't the bad guy, they just misunderstood each other at first.</p>
<p>And so, the magician was the first one to bring Anti to the house he shared with the other egos. It caused some chaos at first, but one after the other, everyone slowly realized that he was right - Anti wasn't a threat. Some trusted him more than the others, but after less than a month, it was safe to say that the demon was a part of their family already. He helped Jackie to fight crime, he taught Marvin more powerful magic, he helped Jameson with puppet shows, he tried some trick shots with Chase, he helped Henrik to relax after work by preparing coffee... And for everyone, he always offered a shoulder to cry on and some not-always-great-but-still advice. So, really, it was perfect. Even if he sometimes said some immoral things or got close to revolving to violence, they worked through their differences and accepted him as one of their own.</p>
<p>Little did the others know, things were just about to change.</p>
<p>Jackie was struggling to catch his breath, he felt exhaustion in every single muscle of his body, but he didn't even think about stopping to take a break. A huge building was on fire and many people were still stuck inside, he had to save them! And so he kept going in and out, getting the people working there outside while doing his best to cover his face. He was still waiting for the firefighters to get there, but luckily, he wasn't alone. Anti was there to help, carrying outside as many people as he could to help. Unlike the hero, he didn't even bother covering his face from the smoke. He was a demon, after all, he didn't have such stupid weaknesses. He was getting tired as well, but again, it didn't affect him as much.</p>
<p>"How many people are still inside?" Jackie asked one of the people he first brought outside.</p>
<p>"Just a few more, maybe 10?" the woman said, looking around and counting her coworkers again.</p>
<p>"You heard that, Anti?" the hero called out just moments after the demon left the building, helping two people outside. He nodded tiredly.</p>
<p>"Ye̛p̢. 10.͢ G͞o͏t it͞," he confirmed, turning back to go into the building again.</p>
<p>"I'm right behind you," Jackie informed, running inside as well. Just a couple more people.</p>
<p>Five minutes passed and it appeared that everyone was outside already. This was good, a far better outcome than usual. Well, almost everyone, one more person was missing and so was Anti. It was entirely possible that the worker simply left already, or that he wasn't inside in the first place, but the disappearance of his ally worried Jackie far more. He was currently resting and finally catching his breath, but with each second he felt more urge to go back inside and look for Anti. He could already hear the sirens in the distance, which meant that the firefighters soon would arrive, but he couldn't help feeling worried. Just as he made up his mind and got up to try getting back inside he saw someone running out. The last missing employee, a rather young man.</p>
<p>"Are you okay?!" the hero asked, immediately running up to him. The man nodded shakily, coughing heavily.</p>
<p>"He- he's there-!" he wheezed, pointing to the building. Jackie's gut-feeling told him that something was very wrong.</p>
<p>"Who?" he asked, even though he was sure he knew the answer.</p>
<p>"A-a man- He- He was getting me out, but he- he fell and- told me to run, so- so I-" the boy said, but before he was done explaining Jackie already took off running and swearing under his breath. So much for the demon's 'smoke resistance'.</p>
<p>"Anti! Anti?! Where are you?!" he called out, looking around. And for some time, he got no answer. Only then came a weak grunt from one of the rooms. "Anti!"</p>
<p>Jackie ran into the room and, to his horror, discovered Anti lying on the floor, coughing quietly. He quickly rushed to his side and tried to pick him up only to realize that the demon weighed more than an average person and he was just so exhausted... Still, he tried a couple of times, tried until he felt dizzy. Then, he just tugged on Anti's shirt and tried to drag him outside to no avail.</p>
<p>"J- J̡acki̶e̷?" Anti asked, seemingly regaining consciousness.</p>
<p>"You're up?! Good, now come on! We need to get outside! Everyone else is safe!" the hero informed, trying to force the demon up.</p>
<p>"T̕-҉͢t҉h͏e̡͠r͠e'̷͞s͝͞͝ ̨̡no-̵" he tried to argue, his voice getting more distorted as he spoke. Suddenly, he froze. ".̧̡.̕͝.͠R̷̶̡͘ų̷͜n͏̴̸̧.҉̵͢͠" he said. It was hard for Jackie to even make out what he was saying.</p>
<p>"Not without you!" the hero refused once he realized that Anti just asked him to run. Swearing loudly, the demon tried to get to his feet.</p>
<p>"F̶in̵e͏.͏ ̷̡I̷͝'͢͜m̨͜ ̛ri͏͝g̛h̷̛͜t͠ ͏̷b҉̵e͡hi͢͞n̴d͘͢ ͏͘y͠o̴̧͜u͝,̷̶" he muttered, getting up and starting to stumble forward. Jackie ran first, but kept looking over his shoulder to make sure that Anti was still there. "J̸u̢s̵t ̸̢g҉o̵̧.̶͜ ̷̡Y̷̸̢ou̵͝'re̸ ̴sl̸̢̕o͠w̴i̛n͞g u͞s̕͝ ḑ̧o̵̷w̸̛n̕.̸͜͠" he complained.</p>
<p>"Fine!" Jackie sighed, reassured that Anti felt better. He wouldn't say that on death bed after all, would he?</p>
<p>Already stumbling, Jackie ran outside and took a deep breath of fresh air before stopping, coughing, and wheezing. A couple of citizens walked over, concerned, and tried to ask him if he was okay, all while the firefighters <em>finally </em>arrived. As they got to work and tried to extinguish the fire, Jackie finally caught his breath and the wheezing soon turned into a quiet laugher. Everyone was fine, after all, so why not laugh?</p>
<p>"I'm- we're both good-" he said proudly. When the people only looked more concerned, he looked at Anti for confirmation. All color drained from his face when he realized that his friend... wasn't there. "I- He was right behind me!" he gasped.</p>
<p>Without hesitation, he tried to run back inside, promising himself that this time he'll make sure that Anti gets out even before him. Yet just as he was getting closer to the entrance, he heard something snapping inside, and before he could enter, the building crumbled before his eyes. He froze in his tracks and stared for a moment. Then, he called out to the firefighters, telling them that someone was still inside, and then he fell to his knees in defeat. Still staring.</p>
<p>"He was right behind me... he was..." he kept muttering to himself, ignoring the civilians surrounding him and trying to calm him down. "Right behind me..."</p>
<p>It slowly occurred to him that this was... over. This short moment was the end. There was no way to turn back time, Anti was gone. Just like that, wiped from the earth... This was the end of the demon's story.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. The drive home with Henrik</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi everyone! I know it took me a lot of time to get this one done, but I was really struggling to find any time/motivation for writing recently... but anyway, here's the second chapter of this story!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Henrik nervously drove his car through the streets, navigating to the best of his ability to the building reported on fire. He was no firefighter, of course, but he was sure that many people could need medical assistance there, probably including Jackie. And so he had to hurry, there was no telling how bad the things were over there. Following the smoke covering a part of the city's sky, he soon reached the building and saw it collapsed. Almost immediately, he pulled over in a way that wouldn't block the street and jumped outside, looking around in panic. Only when he noticed a familiar red suit standing over the ruins and digging, he let out a relieved sigh.</p><p>"Jackie!" he called out, running between the firefighters. They didn't even try to stop him, they knew him as the doctor helping Jackieboy-man already. Upon hearing his voice, the hero turned to look at him, and Henrik noticed tears streaming down his face. Immediately, worry hit him again.</p><p>"H-Henrik!" the hero gasped, dropping a piece of concrete he was holding and stumbling towards him.</p><p>"What happened?" the doctor asked, making sure to be ready to catch Jackie if his knees gave in. Judging by his expression, it was a likely option.</p><p>"A-Anti!" he choked out, trying to catch his breath. This answer was not enough for the doctor, of course.</p><p>"Anti what?" he asked with a frown. Jackie started sobbing uncontrollably before finally pointing to the building.</p><p>"H-he stayed inside!" he cried. Henrik's eyes widened and he took a step back, shocked.</p><p>"What?!" he gasped, rushing over to the ruins of the building and looking around for any signs of life. "Anti?! Can you hear me?!" he called out, but no answer came.</p><p>"He- he was right behind me..." Jackie sobbed, stumbling after Henrik. It was obvious by his voice that he was exhausted and needed rest. And so, despite his own feelings, Henrik decided to focus on helping him for now.</p><p>"It's okay, Jackie," he assured, turning to put his hands on his shoulders. "Was anyone else inside?" he asked.</p><p>"No..." Jackie answered faintly, shaking his head. "No, He- he got the last person out..." he repeated a bit louder.</p><p>"Okay, that's... that's good. Go wait in the car, you need rest," Henrik instructed. Immediately, Jackie was ready to argue.</p><p>"No! If anybody can dig him out, it's me! I have to-" he refused, taking a step towards the ruins of the building again. The doctor blocked his way, the whole situation still slowly dawning on him. But he knew one thing.</p><p>"Jackie... Do you really think that he'd survive being buried under ashes for this long?" he asked. Hearing this question made the hero stop and think for a moment. His expression grew sadder when he realized what the answer was.</p><p>"I..." he muttered, holding back tears. Anti was right behind him, how could this ever happen...</p><p>"Wait in the car, Jackie. I'll join you in just a moment," he said strictly yet softly, making the hero nod slightly before stumbling back.</p><p>Henrik watched his friend slowly stumble to his car and crawl into the backseat, ignoring the crowd of civilians that tried to follow him. After looking their way for a moment longer, the doctor turned around and approached the pile of ashes and concrete, poking it with his foot just to make sure it was solid. It was, and he was sure that the weight of it would be enough to kill Jackie, which meant that there was no hope of finding Anti... He bit back his tears and approached one of the firefighters, telling them to call him if they somehow found a body while cleaning up the place, and finally left.</p><p>He got into his car and without a word started driving back home, occasionally glancing into the rearview mirror just to see Jackie curled up behind him, hiding his face in his hands and trembling. He didn't want to ask him more questions in that state, he just wanted to get him home safely. He wanted to make sure that the hero wasn't injured and let him recover from the shock of losing someone this way... He still didn't allow himself to fully embrace the thought of Anti dying, for the sake of getting home before breaking down himself.</p><p>"...It's my fault, isn't it?" Jackie asked suddenly, looking up to see Henrik's face. The doctor frowned at first, but his expression quickly softened again.</p><p>"Jackie..." he started.</p><p>"No, I- I got him killed! When I agreed to let him help, I should've-" the hero accused himself.</p><p>"Jackie, you did all you could. It's <em>not </em>your fault. He knew how risky going inside was, didn't he?" the doctor argued. Yet Jackie shook his head.</p><p>"No, I think- I think he didn't! He thought that the smoke couldn't hurt him, he..." he explained, remembering how sure of himself Anti was when he stated that his body wasn't going to get damaged as a human body would. This caught Henrik off guard, but he still didn't allow Jackie to blame himself.</p><p>"That's still not your fault, Jackie. It was his choice to go inside and, let's be honest, you wouldn't be able to stop him if you tried," he answered. This made Jackie stay quiet for a moment before speaking more faintly again.</p><p>"...Who's going to tell the others?" he asked quietly. "Are they going to be mad?"</p><p>"I can tell them, Jackie. And they won't be mad at you, I promise," Henrik assured, even though he didn't like the idea of being the one to stand in front of all of the egos and telling them that their friend was never coming back again. Jackie nodded slightly.</p><p>"O-okay then..." he muttered.</p><p>The rest of the car ride was quiet, only an occasional sob or hiccup coming from the hero would break the silence every once in a while. Henrik did his best to keep himself together while driving, he didn't want to cause any accidents and he didn't want Jackie to see. He knew that if he broke down, it would only remind Jackie of the seriousness of the situation, and that would only make him feel worse. After some time they finally made their way over to their house and Henrik parked the car before leaving it and opening the backdoor for Jackie. The hero's legs were shaky and it looked like they could've given in at any moment, but he somehow made it into the house and into his room, where Henrik finally left him.</p><p>Instead of telling the others right away, Henrik decided to head to his own room to try and process everything first. As soon as he closed the door behind himself, he dropped the act of not being bothered and only barely made it to his own bed before collapsing. He could quickly feel tears building up in his eyes, but he told himself to not cry and did his best to control his breathing. After squeezing his eyes shut for quite some time, he finally allowed himself to look around his room, hoping that he had his feelings under control now. As soon as he glanced at his desk and noticed a cup standing on top of it, he froze. At first glance, it was a simple light-blue cup with a messily scribbled black text on it, but it was... special. Seeing it now made something inside of Henrik just snap. He still remembered how he got it as if it happened yesterday, even though it actually happened just a week after Anti moved in.</p><p>========================</p><p>
  <em>Henrik didn't even bother hiding that he was upset, everything was going wrong since the moment he left his bed in the morning. He couldn't find the clean shirt he prepared for himself a day before, he had to find a new jar of coffee after someone else used up all the contains of the old one and didn't tell anybody... But the worst thing was what happened when he asked Anti to hand him the cup with the coffee. While carrying it, the demon's hands suddenly glitched and the cup, Herik's favorite "The good doctor" cup, fell to the floor and shattered into pieces too small to put together. Since then, not much happened, but it still had him upset. And just as he was thinking about that again, he heard a knock on his door.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Yes?" he asked, not bothering to make his voice sound friendly. After a moment of silence, came the answer.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>".͜͢.҉.͘͢Uh͏,̴̛ D̴͢o͏̸c̢͏?̶͢ ̶Ca͟͜n͟ I͏̵̛ c̢o̶̷m͞e̶̕ ̴i͠n̷͟?̶" asked a very glitchy voice. Henrik sighed audibly before walking over to the door and opening it, surprising Anti.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What do you want?" he asked with a frown. His sudden appearance made Anti jump and glitch out a bit.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I̶ j҉ust̕ wante͜ḑ tǫ t͏al͜k̡..." the demon answered, keeping both of his hands behind his back. The doctor just rolled his eyes.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Then talk," he said, making sure it was obvious that he was still upset about what happened in the morning.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I̴ wa͘nt ̷to ąp͠ol̸ogi͏z̴e. For ̶d͠rop͘pi̧ng you̶r ҉cup.͡ ̢I.̧.͏. ͠don'̛ţ e̴xa͏ctly̛ ̵c͟ontro̴l͝ my ̛gli͢t̸ches̴,͝ ͘I̷'̕m st͢il̵l..̢. ҉w̧ork̵ing̛ on͟ i̧t." Anti started to explain, lowering one of his hands to gesture with it. Henrik couldn't help but notice a weird, black glove the demon had on it.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"What are you wearing?" he asked, watching the hand with suspicion.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"T̷hat̢?" Anti asked, putting up the hand. Henrik nodded. "M̵arv҉in ҉m̴ade̶ ͠theşe fo̧r me ̛today.͝ ̸T͜hey͡'̛r͞e s͜uppo̶sed̵ to ̛hȩlp ̡me͞ wi̧t̨h̶ ho̵l͞d͜in̛g things̶ ҉wi͟th͢o͠u̵t͝ ͢drop͘p̶i͘n͡g ҉t͏he҉m..̵. ҉t̡hey'ŗe w̸oŗk̕i̸n͘g̕ ͜so ̡f̶ar,̵ ͏I ̨think." he explained, turning his hand to show off the glove.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Too bad you didn't get them this morning, it was my favorite cup you broke," the doctor complained. Anti slowly hid his hand behind his back again and looked down.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"I'̨m ̧really̵ ̛s͝orry. ̵C͘oul̸ḑ ͟y̢oų-͠" he tried to suggest, but Henrik already heard it too many times that day.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Buy a new one? No, it was a one-of-a-kind cup, Anti!" he answered, cutting off the demon's question. Then, he noticed that Anti was most likely holding something behind his back. "What are you hiding there?" he asked, sounding a little less upset.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Uh̡..͠.̨ W҉ell, ͢I.̕.̛. ͏g͢ot ͟you ̛some͢thi̷ng?̴ ͝I̷'m not ͜s͢u͏r̵e ҉if yo͟u'l͜l li͢ke͟ ͜i̧t,̷ ͝b̢u͏t̶...͢ ͞h̵er̛e̢," the demon answered and hesitantly pulled the gift out. It was a light-blue cup with 'The world's best Good Doctor' written on it, obviously by hand. Seeing this made Henrik freeze for a second before carefully reaching for it and taking it off Anti's hands.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Did... did you make this?" he asked, carefully looking it over. Anti nervously nodded, or at least that's what his glitched head appeared to be doing.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Y͏e͝ah̸. I k͢no͞w i̢t'̧ş n͝o̡t̢ t͠he b̧e͡st, but.̵.̷." he tried to justify the messiness of his handwriting and the fact that it didn't say the same thing that the cup he destroyed did, but he stopped when he saw Henrik's expression soften and a smile appear on his face. It was probably the first time he saw the doctor smile genuinely...</em>
</p><p>
  <em>"Thank you, Anti. I... appreciate it. It looks great," he said, still looking it over.</em>
</p><p><em>"Uh̴...͏ I̢'m̛ glad!̵ ͜If͠ you ne͏ȩd̵ ͝m̵e͠,͏ I'll͏ ̶b̧e d͟own͟s͡t͝ai͢rs͢!" the demon </em> <em>announced quickly before glitching away. </em></p><p>
  <em>He still wasn't the greatest at talking with others, especially if they were starting to be somewhat nice to him. Henrik didn't mind, he just kept looking at the cup. "The world's best Good Doctor" was a better title than just "The good doctor", and he really liked it. After a moment longer of standing in the door, he came back into his room and put the cup on his desk, ready to take it with him when he'd go get his evening coffee. The more he looked at the cup, the more he was starting to like it...</em>
</p><p>========================</p><p>Henrik couldn't tell when exactly it happened, but he managed to reach for the cup and now found himself holding it while sitting on the side of his bed. He quickly realized that there were tears slowly running down his face, a couple of the dripping on the gift he received from Anti all this time ago. It was back when Anti was too worried to refer to him as anything but "Doc" or "Doctor", back when no one really knew how to feel about him being in the house and back when he was still trying to prove that he wasn't evil... It felt like ages ago.</p><p>Slowly, Henrik wiped his face and, after taking a couple of deep breaths, carefully put the cup back. After that, he stumbled over to the small mirror in his room and tried to fix himself up before thinking of what to say. How was he supposed to tell the others about what happened to Anti? What words could he use to make it less painful than it needed to be? Was there even a way to do that? He didn't know, but he tried to think of anything that could be helpful. It'd be just like announcing that a patient didn't make it to their family, something he had experience with... right?</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. The not-so-jolly Jameson</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>As some of you might've noticed, I'm trying to show how each ego reacted to Anti dying in each chapter while also trying to keep it as a single story, so that's why the focus somewhat suddenly shifts to Jameson here. And I'm sorry for the slow updates again, I'm doing my best I promise.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>Jameson was sitting on the couch in the living room and growing more concerned with each second. He was sure that he caught a glimpse of Henrik passing the room earlier and that the doctor looked troubled, but after that, he only heard the sound of his door being slammed shut before everything went silent. As time went on, he felt an urge to get up and check up on his friend, but before he managed to make up his mind he finally heard the door open again, quickly followed by footsteps going towards him. And so, the dapper man decided to stay in his spot and wait for things to unfold.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After just a moment, Henrik entered the room. He looked tired, or maybe even sad, as he glanced around before finally spotting JJ. Once he did, he quickly wiped his eyes before making his way towards him and taking a concerningly deep breath. Jameson tilted his head a bit while waiting for the doctor to say something, but for the first time in forever, the man couldn't find the right words. Eventually, he sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Wait here. I... I need to get Chase and Marvin here, too," he said, his voice surprisingly low.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Why? Is everything alright?' Jameson signed before the doctor could leave. Henrik quickly shook his head.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"D-Don't worry about it, Jameson. I'll explain in a minute," he assured. This answer obviously didn't reassure JJ, but he nodded and allowed Henrik to leave, not wanting to wait for the actual explanation any longer than he had to. After a moment, Chase entered the room and awkwardly sat down next to JJ on the couch.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"So... did you see Henrik?" he asked after a moment of just sitting speechlessly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'He told me to wait here. With how troubled he looked like, it's slightly worrying,' Jameson signed hesitantly. Chase gave him a tiny nod.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"We're on the same page here, then," he muttered, more to himself rather than Jameson.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After sitting there for just a moment longer, they heard a distant sound of Henrik and Marvin arguing in a different room. They didn't even try to have any small conversations as they listened to their friends fighting about something for an almost concerning amount of time. Finally, the voices went quiet, and soon after that, Henrik, still looking as troubled as before, walked into the room. He was shortly followed by a visibly annoyed Marvin. The magician stopped right by the door and crossed his arms as if he was in a rush.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Alright, what is it, Henrik?" he asked. The doctor sighed.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"You might want to sit down before I tell you," he answered, grabbing a chair for himself and sitting in front of the couch. Marvin just rolled his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"I'd rather not, I need to get going soon-" he tried to argue, but Henrik cut him off.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Sit down," he repeated in a voice that made Marvin realize that this wasn't something he should be arguing about. Still annoyed, he walked over to the couch and sat down next to Chase. "Thank you," the doctor sighed, rubbing his temples.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"...Can you tell us what happened, please?" Chase asked after silence filled the room for some time. Henrik nodded slowly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's about Anti," he started. Before anyone got to chime in, he tried to continue. "Today, he and Jackie were saving people from a building after it caught on fire..." he tried to explain, but his voice trailed off. This alone left everyone in the room with visibly concerned expressions.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>'Is he okay?' Jameson signed nervously, even though he wasn't sure if he was ready for the answer.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"No, he... didn't get out in time. The building collapsed while he was still inside," Henrik answered after a moment of hesitation. Now the worried expressions were replaced by shocked ones filled with disbelief and the room fell silent for a moment.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"A-Are you serious!?" Marvin yelled, jumping off of the couch and rushing towards the doctor. "I-Is this a terrible, dumb joke or something?!" he demanded.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"Marvin! </span>
  <em>
    <span>Marvin</span>
  </em>
  <span>!" Chase called after him, breaking through the shock and following him to stop him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>"It's not a joke," Henrik answered truthfully, which only resulted in more yelling.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>And while the three argued, Jameson silently got up and stumbled out of the room, quickly rushing to his own bedroom. He felt dizzy while he tried to acknowledge what he just heard. He didn't even think it was possible for Anti to die, not to mention how... human his death was. And the fact that he died saving other people seemed even more absurd. Jameson never felt comfortable around the demon, he usually tried to avoid him simply because he didn't trust him, but now he felt... conflicted. Was his fear reasonable, or was he just wasting his time, blinded by the past?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Trying to wrap his head around the whole situation, he sat down on his bed and stared at the floor. He struggled to imagine Anti being a hero, saving strangers, and willing to sacrifice himself for the better cause, but it somehow happened. When did the demon change for the better? Did he ever show that side around Jameson? How come he never noticed? Eventually, he shook his head and pulled out a pocket watch to check how long has he been sitting there. He certainly didn't want to worry the others by disappearing, so he wanted to make sure that he wasn't gone for too long... And that's when it hit him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>=====================</span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jameson felt tense the moment Anti walked into the room and locked eyes with him. It's been over a month since the demon moved in, but JJ still couldn't help feeling scared when left alone with him. Somewhat awkwardly, he made his way across the room and over to Jameson, hiding something behind his back. The man's first assumption was a knife, which only made him more anxious, but he was soon to be proven wrong.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>"H͜e͏y͢, u̧h,̛ ̛Ja͝m̸e͞s͘on̵,͏" the demon greeted and judging by his voice, he was nervous about this talk as well.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>'Yes?' JJ signed, doing his best to hide his fear.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em><span>"I go͏t̢ yơu so̵m̡et͘hi̢n͡g̷," Anti announced. This confused the dapper man... what did he mean? As if he could read Jameson's thoughts, he pulled out a fancy pocket watch. "Ma͠r͝v͟in̴ ͢</span>h͜e̸lped̡ m̢e ͏pic̛k i҉t. H̛e ̸said̶ ̵som͟ęt̛h͠i̧n̨ģ ҉abo̡ut ho̶w̢ y̨ou͞ ̨nee͜d t̨im̢e͞ ̶to͞ ge͝t us͏ed t̢o ̶m̵e̢.͏.͏.̵ I͡ jus͏t ͘th͜ought ͝y͢o̧u'd͟ like it." he explained. Hesitantly, Jameson nodded and took it, still half-expecting to get stabbed.</em>
</p><p>
  <em>'Thank you. Th<span>at's a very thoughtful gift,' he signed, briefly looking it over and putting it into his pocket. 'Excuse me, but I need to leave now,' he added, carefully getting up and backing away from the demon. Anti nodded.</span></em>
</p><p>
  <span>"</span>
  <em>
    <span>S͘u͞re,͏" he responded simply.</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Jameson left the room and only then he felt safe. After calming himself, he pulled the watch back out and took more time to take a look at it, finally noticing all the fancy details and quickly beginning to like it. He was confused about receiving it, but he just assumed that it was entirely Marvin's idea to get it and the magician only convinced Anti to give it to him. It would make some sense, the man was obviously trying to get others to like the demon and he knew how much Jameson appreciated gifts...</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <span>=====================</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Jameson felt an incredible amount of guilt wash over him when he realized that even back then, Anti was trying to be nice. Influenced by others or not, he was seriously trying, only to be ignored. How come JJ never noticed his efforts? He wasted so much time avoiding him instead of getting to know him, and now... now it was too late to give it a try. This realization made his insides twist in an almost painful manner, knocking the air out of him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He covered his eyes and tried to focus on his breathing. He couldn't think straight anymore, he didn't know what to do... oh, he wasted so much time! He didn't know for how long he was sitting like this, but a loud crash in one of the nearby rooms finally snapped him out of it. He looked around, trying to figure out what happened, but heard nothing else.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>With his hands shaking, he picked up the pocket watch to check the time again before putting it back into his pocket. Then, he managed to get up and stumbled over to his desk, still desperately trying to think. Eventually, he concluded that there was only one thing he could do now. He knew that others were probably suffering more than him, so he decided to do something he knew they wouldn't be able to prepare. Holding back tears, he picked up a pen and piece of paper before starting to write. With a heavy heart, he put "</span>
  <em>
    <span>The funeral</span>
  </em>
  <span>" on top of the page. Because somebody had to.</span>
</p>
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